Tending

Tending is one of several main skills within Degrees of Lewdity. It is tied to the feat "Green Fingered", which requires the player to reach maximum tending. Unlike the other main skills, this one does not have a unique stat boost tied to it.

Description

The best way to describe tending is managing plants and animals. The player must maintain their crops to make a good profit.

This skill shortens the time it takes for the player to do gardening work, increasing the effectiveness of cleaning out the temple gardens as well as the likeliness to attract customers at the player's stall when selling flowers. Some interactions with animals have tending skill checks, one example being, calming down a wild cat.

Tending is increased through proceeding with several methods. The simplest, and easiest method is to work on any garden and water the crops. Other methods include:

• Helping out at the Temple Gardens
• Discovering new seeds (see Seed locations below)
• Clearing Eden's garden plot outside their cabin of weeds
• Helping Alex at their Farm
• Trying and failing to harvest wild plants
• Managing farm animals, such as horses

And besides growing flowers, as gardening is a physically demanding task, it is a good way to improve Physique. It can be an interesting choice for players wanting improve and maintain their form.

Growing and Harvesting

Plants

There is a total of sixteen seeds the player can grow. These must first be discovered by the player, however, once discovered, the player can plant them forever. When searching for them, the prompt "Look for seeds" will appear when the player is in the right place.

Plant name	Plot type	Growth time	Harvest amount Multiplier	Seasons	Cost per item	Money per day per item w/ multiplier	Location
Red Roses	Dry	14 days	1	Spring, Autumn	£4	£0.286	A random clearing near the Forest Lake Area, the parts of the forest where the lake is accessible. Requires a B in Science.
White Roses	Dry	14 days	1	Spring, Autumn	£4	£0.286	Within the Coastal Path, accessible from Mer Street (this requires a B in History).
Orchid	Dry	28 days	1	Summer	£10	£0.357	A random clearing in the deepest areas of the Forest - anywhere deeper than the Red Rose. Requires an A in Science.
Daisies	Dry	7 days	1	Spring, Summer, Autumn	£1	£0.143	Within the Orphanage Garden.
Tulips	Dry	12 days	1	Autumn	£2	£0.167	Within the Park. Requires a C in Science.
Lotus	Watery	5 days	1	All	£3	£0.6	In the shallows of the Forest Lake. Requires a B in Science.
Lillies	Dry	10 days	1	Spring, Autumn	£2	£0.2	A random clearing in the Forest from its entrance up to (not including) the lake. Requires a C in Science.
Poppies	Dry	8 days	1	Spring, Autumn	£2	£0.25	In the Asylum Garden or in the plots near Eden's Cabin.
Carrots	Dry	10 days	3	Spring, Summer, Autumn	£0.4	£0.12	In the Moor, where "Plains of heather stretch in all directions." Requires at least a D+ in Tending, and a B in Tending will guarantee a successful harvest.
Onions	Dry	12 days	3	Spring, Autumn	£1.2	£0.30	In the Moor, where "Bushes and rock formations make travelling difficult." Requires at least a C in Tending, and a B+ in Tending will guarantee a successful harvest.
Garlic Bulbs	Dry	8 days	3	Autumn	£1	£0.375	Deep in the Moor, where "Water bubbles up from unseen wells." Requires at least a C+ in Tending, and a A in Tending will guarantee a successful harvest.
Potatoes	Dry	7 days	4	Spring, Autumn, Winter	£0.2	£0.112	Gained after Alex puts you in charge of the farm's fields
Strange Flowers	Dry	28 days	1	All	£10	£0.357	Given by Alex after clearing 8 fields
Cabbages	Dry	8 days	3	Spring, Winter	£0.5	£0.189	Within the Coastal Path, accessible from The Meadow (this requires a A in History).
Turnips	Dry	12 days	2	All	£0.8	£0.133	Gained after Alex puts you in charge of the farm's fields.
Broccoli	Dry	10 days	3	Spring, Autumn	£0.5	£0.15	In the Moor, where "Plains of heather stretch in all directions."
Carnations	Dry	3 days	1	Autumn	£0.6	£0.2	Behind the school when socializing on the green during lunchtime after building the school yard improvement project from the Mayor's office.

Plots

Plants must be grown inside designated plots. There is a total of eleven unique plots for the player to grow their gathered plants.

• The Orphanage has three small dry beds with poor quality soil.
  • The player can obtain an additional small watery bed with poor quality soil by befriending Mason, then convincing Bailey to build a spring in the Orphanage Garden costing a total of £6000. Unlike other plots, plants do not need to be watered, as it gets water from the nearby spring. Additionally, it is the only place to grow plants that possess the "Watery" plot type, such as the Lotus.
    • This water bed is not to be confused with the Mason's Pond area at the Forest Lake.
  • The player can also build a greenhouse by asking Alex, once they can live with them, about some old plans in his room, allowing the player to plant any crop, no matter the current season. Despite being indoors, crops in the greenhouse will still be watered by rain.
• The Wolf Cave has three medium dry plots with decent quality soil.
• Eden's Cabin has three medium dry plots with decent quality soil.
• The Asylum has one small dry bed with good quality soil (this one can be accessed only when the player is interned there).
• Alex's Farm starts with four dry fields with good quality soil, which can potentially increase up to nine by clearing the fields.

Every plot must first be tilled and only then can the player plant seeds in it. Plots have the following stats:

• Size: Determines how long it takes to take care of and how tiring it is.
  • Small plots are called beds and take between 0:05 and 0:30 to till (depends on Tending rank), 0:30 to plant, 0:05 to water and 0:05 to pick. Upon being picked, they yield a random number of plants between 10 and 20 - 70 (depending on tending skill, assuming poor quality soil).
  • Medium plots are plots and take between 0:15 and 1:30 to till (depends on Tending rank), 1:30 to plant, 0:15 to water and 0:15 to pick. Upon being picked, they yield a random number of plants between 10 and 30 - 120 (depending on tending skill, assuming poor quality soil).
  • Larger plots are called fields and take between 1:00 and 6:00 to till (depends on Tending rank), 3:00 to plant, 1:00 to water and 1:00 to harvest. Upon being harvested, they yield a random number of plants between 10 and 50 - 550 (depending on tending skill, assuming poor quality soil).
• Soil quality: Determines yield per plot. Note that the base is pre-determined for each plot and fertiliser can boost it temporary (Or permanently if the player has the "Green Thumb" trait.)
  • Poor quality soil does not affect the number of plants harvested.
  • Decent quality soil multiplies the harvested amount by 1.2, meaning beds yield between 12 and 24 - 84 plants, plots yield between 12 and 36 - 144 and fields yield between 12 and 60 - 660 (higher Tending skill means higher upper limit).
  • Good quality soil multiplies the harvested amount by 1.4, meaning beds yield between 14 and 28 - 98 plants, plots yield between 14 and 42 - 168 and fields yield between 14 and 70 - 770 (higher Tending skill means higher upper limit).
  • Excellent quality soil multiplies the harvested amount by 1.6, meaning beds yield between 16 and 32 - 112 plants, plots yield between 16 and 48 - 192 and fields yield between 16 and 80 - 880 (higher Tending skill means higher upper limit).

Crops have 5 stages of growth:

1. You planted [a plant's] seeds here.
2. Thin [plants] sprout from the soil.
3. The [plants] have grown into seedlings.
4. The [plants] are budding.
5. The [plants] are flowering, and ready for picking.

Plants only grow if they are watered. Water plants are watered by the water they are planted in, but other plants must be watered manually - unless it rains. Crops must be watered once every day, although they do not decay if left dry.

Once plants reach the fifth stage, they can be harvested. After harvesting, the plot must be tilled again to prepare for new crops. Successfully grown crops can then be sold at a rented market stall on Connudatus Street - more information provided below.

Fertiliser

Fertiliser can be used to the player's advantage to grant a more bountiful harvest.

Locations

To obtain fertiliser, the player must infiltrate and then steal it from the Docks at night. The player learns about goods stored there in the same vein they learn about smugglers - eavesdropping while working on the job - except this time the player will need to be actively working as a dockworker to learn of its contents. Note that learning about where the fertiliser is stored beforehand isn't necessary, but it helps narrow down where the player needs to search when breaking in at night.

There is a 10% chance for any container to have some fertiliser in it. Note that the player will need a C (400 points) in Tending to be able to tell that it's fertiliser in the first place.

Otherwise, the player will assume it is simply bags of dirt - "containing nothing of value" - and will be discarded as useless to the player. If the player continues to search the docks' containers and stumbles across fertiliser again without the required Tending rank, a prompt will appear - "The interior is loaded with bags of what looks like dirt filled inside."

The game will proceed to continue referring to the fertiliser as "bags of dirt" until the player has the correct Tending rank. If the player has the "Green Thumb" background, it will still not be enough to find usages for the fertiliser, this is because the background starts with a "D" Tending rank, rather than the required C ranking.

Usage

If the player has any fertiliser, they will have the option to add it to a plot when they till the soil. This will increase the quality of the soil by one level, increasing the number of plants what will be harvested from that plot. If the player uses fertiliser on the same plot again before the fertiliser wears off, the soil quality can be increased further, allowing the player to potentially increase any plot to excellent quality.

After fertiliser is added to a plot, it will wear off after three harvests (or just two harvests if used on a field), decreasing the soil quality by one level until it reaches the plot's original quality. However, if the player has the "Green Thumb" perk, fertiliser will never wear off and the soil quality will be improved permanently.

Wild Plants

The player is also able to gather produce in the wild to sell without the need to grow them first. This can be done primarily in the Forest and the Moor.

Produce

There are a total of fourteen types of produce the player can find and harvest in the wild.

Some can be grown to make more, whereas others must be foraged in the designated areas, they cannot be obtained as seeds. Ones only obtainable via foraging are marked with an [F] to make it more distinct from other names.

Name	Cost per item	Base harvest amount	Location
Tulip	£2	1-5	Within the Park. The player can attempt to pick them at any tending level, though a D in Tending is required to guarantee success.
Lily	£2	1-5	A random clearing in the Forest from its entrance up to (not including) the lake. Requires at least a F+ in Tending to attempt picking, and a C in Tending will guarantee success.
Red Rose	£4	1-5	A random clearing near the Forest Lake Area, the parts of the forest where the lake is accessible. Requires at least a D in Tending to attempt picking, and a C+ in Tending will guarantee success.
Orchid	£10	1-5	A random clearing in the deepest areas of the Forest - anywhere deeper than the Red Rose. Requires at least a D+ in Tending to attempt picking, and a B in Tending will guarantee success.
Mushroom [F]	£1	1-5	Only obtainable via foraging. Within the Forest, anywhere between the entrance and the end of the lake area. The player can attempt to pick them at any tending level, though a D+ in Tending is required to guarantee success.
Wolfshroom [F]	£3	1-5	Only obtainable via foraging. In the deepest areas of the forest, past the lake. Requires at least a D+ in Tending to attempt picking, and a B in Tending will guarantee success.
Apple [F]	£0.5	6-18	Only obtainable via foraging. A random clearing in the Forest from its entrance up to (not including) the lake, same as the Lilies. The player can attempt to pick them at any tending level, though a D+ in Tending is required to guarantee success.
Pear [F]	£0.8	6-18	Only obtainable via foraging. A random clearing near the Forest Lake Area, same as the Red Roses. Requires at least a F+ in Tending to attempt picking, and a C in Tending will guarantee success.
Lemon [F]	£1.2	6-18	Only obtainable via foraging. A random clearing in the deepest areas of the Forest, same as the Orchids. Requires at least a D in Tending to attempt picking, and a C+ in Tending will guarantee success.
Blood Lemon [F]	£4	6-18	Only obtainable via foraging. A unique variant of lemon, found only during a blood moon. Located in the same areas as normal lemons. Requires at least a D in Tending to attempt picking, and a C+ in Tending will guarantee success.
Wild Honeycomb [F]	£120	1	Only obtainable via foraging. In the deepest areas of the forest, past the lake. Requires at least an A in Tending to attempt harvesting, and having a S in Tending will give the player a 66% chance of succeeding. Note that the player will still get the honeycomb if they fail to harvest successfully, though they will anger the bees in the hive and be attacked.
Carrot	£0.4	20-50	In the Moor, where "Plains of heather stretch in all directions." Requires at least a D+ in Tending, and a B in Tending will guarantee a successful harvest.
Onion	£1.2	15-40	In the Moor, where "Bushes and rock formations make travelling difficult." Requires at least a C in Tending, and a B+ in Tending will guarantee a successful harvest.
Garlic Bulb	£1	30-50	Deep in the Moor, where "Water bubbles up from unseen wells." Requires at least a C+ in Tending, and a A in Tending will guarantee a successful harvest.
Strawberry [F]	£1.8	5-50	Only obtainable via foraging. In the farm woodlands.
Peach [F]	£0.65	5-50	Only obtainable via foraging. In the farm woodlands.
Plum [F]	£0.8	5-50	Only obtainable via foraging. In the farm woodlands.
Ghostshroom [F]	£2	12-36	Only obtainable via foraging. In the garden of Kylar's Manor. Described as "cold to the touch" (- Arousal)
Blackberry [F]			Only obtainable via foraging. In the Thicket in the Residential Alleyways, accessible after the corresponding Town Project.

Harvest Amount

When harvesting wild plants, the amount of items the player ends up harvesting is affected by their Tending skill and the Green Thumb trait. At the maximum Tending skill, the amount harvested will be doubled, and the Green Thumb trait will increase it by 1.2x. This means that the harvest amount can be increased to 240% the base amount.

The only type of produce that isn't affected by these factors is the Wild Honeycomb. The player will always harvest only a single honeycomb.